unitardzfandomcom-20200214-history
UnitardZ Productions
UnitardZ Productions (mostly referred to as simply UnitardZ) is a small and independent American production company formerly headquartered in Waterbury, Connecticut; now currently headquartered in Port Washington, New York. UnitardZ was founded by Zachary Serra (most commonly known as and referred to as Zack Hardy) and Zachary Hoyt in August of 2012, as a YouTube channel focused on skits and gaming. Upon the end of 2015, UnitardZ started to be referred to as UnitardZ Productions, with the name of UnitardZ being used to refer to their wrestling and combat sports channel. Zachary Hoyt left the production in 2014, and Zack Hardy is the only current owner of the production, and the only key person in the entirety of the production. The production's videos and content are more than primarily based on the internet video-sharing website YouTube. In 2016; Serra announced that there were plans to open up new divisions with separate YouTube channels for diverse topics, including politics, sports and gaming. UnitardZ would launch "UnitardZ Gaming" in the summer of 2016, but would shortly leave the channel vacant without uploads, before announcing in 2018 that there were no plans to revive the UnitardZ Gaming channel. In 2017; Serra would confirm that UnitardZ Productions would become an umbrella for many of his future ventures, making it sort of a parent company to many of his individual projects. In April of 2017, Serra would launch a new Twitter account centered around professional wrestling news, called "The Wrestle Target" which was originally run by Serra under three monikers, until Serra would leave the project and hire employees to take over the Wrestle Target, of whom he has stated that the employ list is around ten people. The Wrestle Target has become a sponsor of sorts to UnitardZ Productions and vice versa, with many of Serra's professional wrestling reviews being subjected under the Wrestle Target umbrella. Serra would continue the UnitardZ expansion by opening a new ghost-writing company in February of 2018, called "The Lyricist Ghouls" which would see a staff of writers charge aspiring musicians to talk with them and piece together an original song for them based off of their input, giving a more persona. feel to their songs. The project originally featured Serra and two other unnamed individuals, but has increased to include seven different writers, with Serra stepping down from work with the Lyricist Ghouls in August of 2018. The project has kept a reputation for every client maintaining their information private, allowing people a more personal and private connection with their writers. In September of 2018; Serra confirmed on Twitter that there were seven different branches of the UnitardZ Production label, all centered in seven different cities around the northeastern continental United States. Serra stated that UnitardZ Productions was headquartered in Stratford, Connecticut as of March of 2018. Additionally; his personal music studio and his "The Hardy Complex" podcast projects were headquartered out of his personal home in Port Washington, New York. In addition to these projects, The Lyricist Ghouls and the Wrestle Target were both headquartered out of the third branch located in Hoboken, New Jersey. Serra has also stated that he works with multiple start ups as of September 2018; however; did not name any in specific. Rumors began to swirl shortly thereafter that these included a new music label and radio network located in Syracuse, New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey respectively. The branches located out of Hartford, Connecticut and Newport, Rhode Island remain unknown, and the music labels and radio networks are believed to be two upcoming projects from Serra based off of the locations of specific projects on directory pages, along with names coinciding to Serra's former hoped ventures. History Launch and Early Content (August 2012-March 2014) UnitardZ was launched as a YouTube channel by co-founders Zack Hardy and Zachary Hoyt, with Hoyt being the primary content maker for the first six month's of the channel' existence. Hoyt would film gaming videos, and reviews on popular television shows among the first few month's of the channel' launch. Upon releasing his second Minecraft video to the channel, Hoyt would disappear and would not make another appearance on the channel until Hardy released a vlog of the two meeting in a Dunkin' Donuts and discussing plans for the channel. This vlog would be the final video that Hoyt is involved in, and the final video on the channel that he is mentioned in until 2015. From this point on, Hardy would film short vlogs and videos on the channel, with the exception of a few gaming videos when he had the chance to upload them. Hardy also filmed a few videos when he first started making content in the channel, but took those video's down a couple of years later as there was no audio included in them. Around this time, Hardy would start his "UniCraft" series, which was just Minecraft under the pseudonym of the UnitardZ name. This would become the most successful UnitardZ gaming series in the production' history as of this point in time. These types of videos would continue on for the next year around various times until March of 2014, when Hardy stated that he would be taking a leave of absence from the channel, and that someone would be taking his place in the meantime. Chase Clover and Move into Professional Wrestling (April 2014-June 2015) Upon announcing his hiatus from the channel, Hardy went under a new gimmick called "Chase Clover" in which he would talk about professional wrestling, most notable Ultimate Showcase Wrestling (as that was the wrestling promotion that Hardy worked for at the time) and would use a fake British accent. This character allowed the channel to start focusing primarily on professional wrestling, and within three month's all skit, vlog and gaming videos ceased to be uploaded on to the channel. Chase Clover also allowed Hardy to start uploading frequently, as the character would upload at least once a week for about seven months, mostly reviewing USW' weekly program Wednesday Night Intensity. The Chase Clover character became widely popular and had a few successful series to his name, such as the USW Wrestling Video Game discussion videos, and the "Who is ENIGMA?" series, both of which have earned over two hundred videos each. At the time, Zack Hardy did not announce that he was Chase Clover, and even went as far as to deny that he had anything to do with him in order to keep the successful character going. However; viewers assumed that it had been Hardy, as the characters shared the same vocal tone and range, making viewers suspicious. The Chase Clover character would stop uploading too frequently around March of 2015, and would start sharing air time with Hardy for the next few months, until Hardy announced over a Twitch stream that the Chase Clover character had been retired in June of 2015, marking the end of Chase Clover. Clover made his final appearance in a UnitardZ video in February of 2016, when Zack Hardy put a camera to his face to discuss the thiry most incredible moments throughout Zack Hardy' career as he had recently left Ultimate Showcase Wrestling. This would mark the final appearance of Chase Clover. In order to keep his identity a secret, Hardy would film the camera towards the ground or a hard surface in order to keep people from seeing his face, allowing the Chase Clover character identity to be kept secret. Allowing the Channel to Branch Out (June 2015-April 2016) Upon the retirement of the Chase Clover character, Hardy once again started filming videos involving himself, and continued to focus on professional wrestling. Around the same time that Hardy made his official return to the channel, he started using it to upload his Twitch live streams, bringing back gaming to the channel for a short while until 2016. He also would hit on precious topics, such as suicide after a classmate of his committed suicide earlier in the week of the video's filming. Hardy would allow the channel and himself to branch out into areas outside of their comfort zone to try and persuade viewers into gaining interest into his content. The Live Streaming Era (July 2015-present) After Chase Clover utilized filming videos before uploading them to the channel, Hardy decided to branch away from the character by live streaming his professional wrestling videos. He would use Google Hangouts to live stream his videos to the public, and upon reaching the end of the live stream, would add them to the video count of his YouTube channel to keep them on demand. Hardy would start using this method to his advantage away from professional wrestling, most notably streaming his suicide topic video where he would announce that his classmate had committed suicide, which made the channel a little easier to relate to, as it would be in real time. This would also be the starting point for where Hardy would open up to his viewers, going as far as to show emotion during the suicide topic video, for the first time since the channel' launch. The method of live streaming videos became a staple for the channel, as it showcased everything in real time, and gave the audience a way to communicate with him easier. He would also use the live streaming method for podcasts, series and announcements. To this point, Hardy continues to utilize the live streaming method for his videos. The Involvement Era (June 2016-present) In June of 2016, Hardy hired Brandon White, a classmate of his also known under the nickname of "Branflakes" to start making videos with him on the new "UnitardZ Gaming" channel. This would be the start of when Hardy would hire employees for the channel, turning it into a production company and less of a YouTube channel. Hardy would start announcing wrestling prediction matches with employees such as; Will Guglielmo, Tim Brown Jr, He would also reveal the UnitardZ Heavyweight Championship, an accomplishment used in the wrestling prediction field to signify the best on the roster. Thus would start the involvement era, and the hiring of employees to the production, with new faces in front of the camera. UnitardZ Gaming, and other Divisions (June-November 2016) Upon branching out and hiring new employees, Hardy launched UnitardZ Gaming, which was the gaming-only channel under the UnitardZ Productions umbrella. A few weeks following the launch of the UnitardZ Gaming channel, the channel went vacant, without any new uploads until Serra announced in 2018 that the channel was no longer active, and was only remaining up in order to leave an archive of the work produced on the channel. In November 2016, Serra announced that the plans for other branches in entertainment under new UnitardZ" series were scrapped, and the UnitardZ YouTube channel would remain the only active YouTube channel under the UnitardZ Productions banner. Parent Company Era, UnitardZ Productions brand (April 2017-present) In April of 2017, Serra launched "The Wrestle Target", a Twitter pro wrestling news source as the first expansion of the UnitardZ brand. Serra would work as the runner of the twitter source until hiring staff to work the branch itself, ultimately making it the first project expansion under the UnitardZ branch. After three months past the launch of the Wrestle Target, the project would act as a sponsor for the UnitardZ Productions branch and vice versa, mostly being involved in the UnitardZ pro wrestling reviews on the main UnitardZ YouTube channel. When asked in the summer of 2017 whether or not Serra would consider creating a separate YouTube channel under the Wrestle Target label, Serra stated that he did not see a reason to make an attempt at making the Wrestle Target it's own thing on YouTube with some of the same content as the UnitardZ channel, but if there were unique ideas to contribute to a project like that sort, he would never rule it out fully. Serra would proceed to start new projects and ventures under the UnitardZ umbrella, forming the Lyricist Ghouls in February of 2018, an interactive ghost writing company allowing a two-way writing process to aspiring musicians. Serra and two others writers would work on the project until August of 2018, when Serra confirmed that he had hired a capable writing staff to work with the Lyricist Ghouls as he had taken himself away from active participation with the branch. While rumors began to circulate throughout 2018 of Serra launching a music label of radio network under a new name under the UnitardZ branch, it was not until September 2018 when speculation was given credibility as Serra announced four new projects headquartered throughout the northeastern United States, matching up with different leads involving a new music label and radio network. As of August 2018, Serra has yet to make any announcements on the new projects or upcoming projects, but has made claim to headquarters to new projects in the upcoming future. In June of 2018, Serra launched a new podcast show called "The Hardy Complex" which temporarily is released under the Podcast One and Radio One banners. Serra has stated that there has been a deal made with his show and these sources to produce his weekly podcast on a monthly deal until he finds a new source to release the content on, giving more speculation on the radio network theory. Serra's deal for the Hardy Complex will end at the conclusion of October 2018, and he states that he looks forward to continuing the Hardy Complex on a new platform by that point. Podcast One and Radio One have agreed to help produce his show for an additional two months at the end of October, giving Serra late October to late December 2018 to make an announcement of a new platform to produce his podcast on. Employees Zack Hardy The owner of UnitardZ Productions, and the inaugural UnitardZ Heavyweight Champion. The personality that started the branching system of the production. Will Guglielmo The first employee under the UnitardZ Branch, and the inaugural UniBank holder, also the first employee to challenge Zack Hardy for the UnitardZ Heavyweight Championship. Will Guglielmo has not appeared in a UnitardZ video since December of 2016, but Serra remains close with Guglielmo, and has stated that he will be seen again for UnitardZ at some point in the future. Brandon White The first employee under the UnitardZ Gaming Branch, currently on hiatus from the production to pursue other goals and choices. White left the UnitardZ Gaming branch in the summer of 2016 around the start of the channel, and has not returned to UnitardZ. Serra stated afterwards that White wanted to work on his own projects with his personal channel and his Salt and Pepper gaming venture. As of September 2018, White's personal channel has not been active for over six months, and the Salt and Pepper Gaming channel was deleted in late 2017. Serra stated that until there was a proper way of incorporating Brandon White into the company, White would most likely no longer be involved in production of the main channel, or any other branch. White and Serra remain friends, and Serra has left the option for White to come back open for discussion. Zachary Hoyt Zachary Hoyt was one of the founders of UnitardZ Productions along with Zachary Serra, uploading the first video to their main UnitardZ channel. At the time, the company was known as "UnitardZZ" spelled with an extra "Z" to mark the incorporation of Zachary Serra and Zachary Hoyt. During the early months of the channel, Serra was unable to upload due to schedule conflicts and lack of recording equipment, which Hoyt grew annoyed at, with him doing much of the work. Hoyt eventually stopped uploading to the channel, and Serra continued uploading. Serra and Hoyt remain friends into 2018, however; Serra is the only member involved with UnitardZ. Hoyt never officially left the channel, and Serra never said he was ever officially relieved of duties from the channel, but both hosts mutually accepted that Hoyt was just not going to be involved with hosting on the channel, and Serra took over. Serra has stated that Hoyt is most likely never going to be a main host on the channel again, but has left his return open for discussion. In hopes of a reunion for a stream on the four-year anniversary of the launch of the UnitardZ main channel, speculation was that Serra would have Hoyt join a stream for a discussion on the early days of the channel, but Serra never confirmed this, and the stream never took place. Serra would later reveal that those were the original plans for a reunion stream including all main UnitardZ' hosts at the time, but nothing came to fruition. Zachary Hoyt while never officially announcing his departure from the channel, is not listed as a current partner or employee/employer of the channel, and has been listed as a former employee since March of 2013.